This paper attempts to document the value relevance of the largest shareholders' identity across the recent financial crisis of 2008 in Morocco, one of the most important emerging markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). To examine the impact of ownership identity on firm performance, this study employs panel data analysis. It uses data of non‐financial firms listed on Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) between 2004 and 2017. To uncover the hidden facets of the aforementioned relationship and examine how it is shaped by the financial crisis, a pre‐ and post‐crisis analysis is performed. The findings reveal that institutional ownership affects positively firm performance in both, pre‐ and post‐crisis periods. Compared to the pre‐crisis period, investors further recognize and reward the value‐enhancing role of institutional ownership during post‐crisis period. Our analysis suggests that the incentives to expropriate minority shareholders within family‐controlled firms increase during financial market turmoil. Family‐owners switched from protecting to misusing the firm's resources for the sake of preserving their private interests. This research raises awareness for managers of family‐controlled firms to review their corporate governance practices and align them with shareholders' value maximization. Our study suggests that Moroccan authorities must strengthen country‐level governance mechanisms. The failure to accomplish this objective could have severe implications ranging from the inefficient allocation of resources in the economy to the destruction of shareholders' value.

This paper explores the barriers that Moroccan agricultural cooperatives face in adopting E‐commerce and the perceived impact this approach would hae on their business performance. We surveyed 120 Moroccan agricultural cooperatives and interviewed 13 cooperative presidents to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. We use descriptive and inferential statistics including independent t‐tests, One‐way ANOVA and post‐hoc analysis for quantitative data while we use thematic analysis for qualitative analysis. We document that the most important barrier to the adoption of E‐commerce in Moroccan agricultural cooperatives is the lack of information related to the low digital literacy of the cooperatives in question. Further, cooperatives believe that E‐commerce will have the highest impact on their brand image and competitiveness but will have the lowest impact on operating speed. Our results show that the higher the level of digitalization the higher the perceived impact of E‐commerce on business performance of Moroccan cooperatives. Our study provides a basis for understanding the challenges faced by Moroccan agricultural cooperatives in adopting E‐commerce. Our results can be used to craft policies and programs that ease the integration of this segment into the digital ecosystem of Morocco.

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Managing goals is a key network management function and is critical in the implementation of industrial R&D projects. In this paper, we explore the implementation of an industrial R&D project, focusing in particular upon the role of means-ends decoupling work to understand how the goals are managed. We combine several data sources in our case research to explore project implementation through an understanding of means-ends decoupling work. We collected indepth interviews, archival records and field observations within the R&D research setting of an industrial R&D project in the period of 2015 to 2017. Our findings identify three types of means-ends decoupling work in R&D project implementation: 'work on' causal complexity, 'work at' behavioural invisibility, and 'work with' practice multiplicity. In addition, we uncover six dynamic micro-mechanisms that collectively influence the making and nature of meansends decoupling work and therefore serve to allow for the fluid switching of work as the institutional conditions permit. Overall, our findings have significant implications for understanding means-ends decoupling as a highly skilled network competence for managing R&D project implementation goals.

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